Alphabet
by Genetically Empowered
Summary: A series of one shots based on alphabetical prompts by nickeldime17. M/A. Up now: L
1. A,B

Alphabet

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A/N: This is a response to nickeldime17's series of alphabetical prompts for M/A oneshots. It's been a long time since I've posted anything here, but reading nickeldime's "A to Z" and having her mention others giving it a shot just finally kicked my brain back into gear. I haven't written anything in several years, so bear with me, please.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

A – K+

B – T

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_**Anything**_

It was funny how she never really noticed it. Funny in a that's more of a sob and not a laugh kind of way, but funny nonetheless. After all the time they had spent together and all the crap they had been through. She couldn't believe she'd never noticed. So much for being genetically engineered to be superior at everything. She failed to notice even the most obvious things.

Like how he always, always had her back. And maybe she did notice that, but not for what it really was. She thought it was annoying. He was always there with his laughing and his talking and his breathing. Never too far away and even out of sight didn't mean he was out of mind. If he wasn't a waggling, smart-talking presence in her face, he was a niggling, whispering presence in her mind and she couldn't shake him. It had been infuriating. Now it seemed like it should have been endearing.

That whole devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky sociopath guise made hating him so easy. Made shoving him off and not caring that much simpler. The way he'd throw her off whenever she tried to chip away that stupid mask, and the way he'd never just roll over when she wanted a little emotion from him. He kept her at arm's length and she hated when he didn't need her. But more than that, she hated when he did need her. She hated that she hated it, and she hated that he didn't. She hated that, even after all the names and all the fighting and all the times she'd ripped through him, he still came back. He came back and he had her back. He could become all hard edges and 'leave me alone's but he never really left. Not completely and never for good. And she'd hated that constant presence. Maybe she shouldn't have.

The world was ending. There had been so many times when it felt like everything was crashing down around her, that apocalyptic feeling was almost common place. But this was the real deal, the genuine article. People were dying and so were transgenics. Mole's corpse had been one of the last she had watched dragged back and burned because they didn't want to leave anything behind for anyone to desecrate. The Conclave was unrelenting, and they were unblinking. Fighting a soulless enemy on one front and fighting the government and the ignorant masses on another was destroying everyone.

She just wanted something to give.

If she had known, she would have done something. Anything. If she had noticed, which was the funny thing about it. She never did. He was always there, always in the background, always picking things apart with that stupid smirk and that stupid logic and that stupid sincerity that sometimes scared her when she looked into his eyes. She should have noticed the way the green had turned a little gold and she should have noticed the way his jaw set. She could recall it now with perfect clarity; a painfully accurate eidetic memory made sure of it. She should have noticed.

It wasn't raining. She noticed that. Rain in Seattle wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence, but the sky had been clear and even the dinghy grey that always stained the sky had made way for a bit of blue. Blue like Logan's eyes, which she had been looking into via webcam for over an hour as they discussed the latest issues with the Conclave and the latest contact Eyes Only had who happened to have finally located a Manticore doctor that was just outside the city limits. She thought the fact the sky was clear and the rain was conspicuously absent had been a sign. Things were looking up and they were going to be okay. Maybe they were going to be great if Logan's contact paid off. Now, blue skies made her think of anything but signs and hope.

Rations were low. Medical supplies were low. Morale was low. Everything was low. Everything but tensions. Those were high and they were volatile. She had tried her hardest to keep things together, but it was like trying to tighten her grip on a handful of sand. The harder she held on, the more things slipped through her fingers. She should have noticed that every time she dropped something, he came along and picked it up. Smoothed things over, patched things up, worked out schedules. Mr. Irresponsible was more responsible than she ever thought to give him credit for. Some things she shouldn't have ignored.

Like the desperate look in his eye when she decided she was going to deal with White on her own. Like the defeated look when she said Logan thought he'd found a cure. That frustrated growl when she told him he couldn't come with her because he'd just cause more trouble than she needed. That look of resolve that would have told her he was coming anyway. Everything gave him away and she noticed nothing.

"Come on, Maxie, let me do something," he'd pleaded, and though his expression had been nonchalant, she should have noticed the sincerity that made his eyes shine. "Anything. You name it."

"I want you to stay here, Alec," she'd told him flippantly, hand on her hip and a glare set on her features.

"Anything but that," he'd grinned and she'd crossed her arms over her chest. Her glare had stopped working on him ages ago. "I'd do anything for you, Max," he'd told her in a serious tone that made her uncomfortable. So she'd punched his arm and walked away.

Anything had meant he would follow her when she told him not to. Anything meant he would waltz out behind her like that had been the plan all along and anything meant he would put a bullet through White's eye the same time the bastard would put a bullet through her shoulder. Anything meant he'd take four more hauling her out, and anything meant he'd break her fall when he threw them out of the third story window when they got cornered.

But out of everything that anything had meant, the one thing it didn't include was to listen to her when she demanded he wake up and when she willed his heart to start beating again.

* * *

_**Brick**_

Red was the color of the shirt Original Cindy had been wearing when she showed up for her weekly night in Terminal City. She could never stay longer than a day, two at the most, thanks to the toxins that were keeping the rundown area's citizens safe. The shirt was red, like her nails and her lipstick. Cherry red, she'd informed with a quirk of a perfectly manicured eyebrow as she'd swept by him to visit Max, leaving Sketchy in her wake to babble excitedly to Alec.

It had taken him a solid month to convince the uptight leader of Terminal City that a bar was a necessity. She had railed against the idea the same way she'd railed against the idea that she should run things with a military structure. She was always like that. Against everything he ever came up with. She didn't want it to be too much like Manticore, but then she didn't want to provide them with any fun either. She'd smacked him hard enough that the back of his head stung for almost an hour when he suggested that didn't know what she was talking about. The challenge and a little more string pulling ultimately resulted in his idea getting the green light. She wanted to fight against Manticore's training more than she wanted to fight against him, after all. Alec always enjoyed coming off the lesser of two evils.

"We can't be all gloom and doom all the time, Max," he'd pointed out, "Not all of us enjoy sulking and heavy sighing twenty-four seven."

"If I think about it, maybe I'll see if we can afford it," was all Max had really said about it, but he knew that was just as good as a yes. Even if she would never admit it and she wouldn't ever just actually agree with him, Alec knew Max could at least see reason when it was right in front of her face.

Red was the color of the bartender's eyes at TC's latest endeavor. Some green skinned, reptilian transhuman had taken to the job and Alec had accepted his scotch from the barkeep with a grin and a nod.

"So Hot Boy, where my baby boo at?" Original Cindy asked, taking a sip of her beer and watching Sketchy try to convince Mole to give him an interview.

"Dunno, probably exchanging lovey dovey sighs via webcam with good old Logan," Alec had shrugged. Max had been edgy the past day or so, maybe she was talking about feelings with her 'not like that ex-boyfriend' or something.

Red was the color of the impossibly short skirt Max was wearing when Alec realized they were in trouble. Red was the color she had painted her pouty, kissable lips when he realized they hadn't thought about how the blessed suppressants Manticore had pumped them full of would eventually wear off. She slinked into the bar and Alec's mouth went dry. Original Cindy offered a low whistle and a suspicious glance. "What is my boo wearing?" Alec didn't hear her question; he was trying to force himself not to grip his glass too tight, lest he break it.

The pheromones hit him like a mack truck and Alec took in a stuttered gasp at the realization. She was in heat. And if she had his attention, that meant she had everyone's attention. Suddenly, she was much, much too far away and Alec felt a surge of desperate frustration when he felt more than saw the X5 beside him move off his bar stool.

Red was the color he saw when the first X5 made a pass at her. Max practically purred and pressed herself against the body of a dark haired man that Alec didn't care to recognize. He stood up and started to make his way toward her. To stop the display and to get her out of there, really, that was it. His heart was pounding and Alec insisted it wasn't jealousy that was coursing through his veins, but instead it was just wanting to look out for his good friend. It was a hard argument to keep up as he watched her hand run down the other man's front.

Red was the color that burst forth from the other man's nose when Alec finally did get close enough. He thought detachedly that blood red was an underrated color. It was such a vivid shade of red, and it always got a bad rap. Alec liked the way it looked coming from the asshole's nose, and he liked the way Max purred at him after his very macho display. He had forgotten his original chivalrous notions as Max ran a finger over his barcode, and Alec hauled her out of the bar and into the alley.

Brick was the shade of red that Alec decided he liked best. It was the color of the wall he crashed against when Max decided he wasn't moving fast enough and his apartment was too far away. It was the color of the wall he would shove her up against only moments later when he would decide he wanted to be in control. Brick was what his head would slam against when Max pushed back, because she was always such a sadist, and brick was what would be responsible for the scrapes along her back once Alec finally got the upper hand, because he hated being told what to do.

Brick was the kind of wall that he felt like he was talking to when Alec finally cornered Max the next time he saw her. She had bailed the second he'd fallen asleep after their heat-induced coupling, and she had been avoiding him ever since. Three days. It took him three days for him to finally track her down. He should have known she would be an expert at escape and evade. He just hadn't expected her to want to avoid him. Maybe it was the fact everyone seemed to think he had some claim on her now. And Max hated anything that had to boil down to their biology, and she hated it even more when it connected her to him, of all people. Alec the screw up had screwed up yet again. Never mind it had been her breathy demands and growls and 'please don't stop's that put them in this position in the first place.

Brick was the shade of red Alec decided he liked least. It wasn't the brilliant shade of the blood that he found on his fingertips after he'd pulled them away from his face once she'd backhanded him for demanding they talk. It wasn't the red her lips turned when they were swollen after he'd kissed her hungrily and desperately in an attempt to convince her he hadn't just used her for sex. It was the ugly red of a wall he rammed his fist into when she said that was all she'd used him for, and it was the dull red of the same wall he sagged against when she walked away and didn't even bother looking back when he called her name.


	2. C,D

Alphabet

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A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it. Here's C and D of the series, though I think I might have lost sight of the prompt in Daughter, but I kind of like it, so I didn't want to just delete and start over. Also, sorry about all the angst with the first two. I tried to make things a little less angsty with these two, but I think the only one that really could count as truly happy would be Daughter. I'm not sure I'm so good at fluff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

C – K+

D – K+

* * *

_**Cold**_

"I can't feel my toes."

"Shut up."

"I can't feel my fingers, either."

"Stop talking. Now."

"Come to think of it, I can't feel my nose either. Or my ears. Hey, do you mind ch-"

"_Shut up_."

"Ow!" Alec flinched back and lifted a hand to rub the not so numb after all ear that Max had just boxed. He glared at her profile for a moment before rolling his eyes. He would have asked himself why he was here, but he already knew the answer. Because he was a masochistic idiot. That pretty much summed it up better than anything else he could think of. A glutton for punishment, that was all he was. Not today, Max. No, I'm busy, Max. No, I don't want to sit on my ass for three hours in the freezing cold so you can rough up some nerdy geek boy looking for some answers when it comes to touching your not like that boyfriend, Max. Those could have all been easy and very acceptable answers to her question. Well, her demand, because Max never asked questions when it came to him. "It's freezing, Max. Can't we go inside?"

"No."

Alec set his jaw and glared at her again. No. She didn't even look at him! What if he was developing hypothermia? What if he was going to go into shock right this very second because she couldn't just take this little stake out indoors? What good did being outside accomplish anyway? Wouldn't they be more alert and on their toes if they weren't coming down with a nasty case of frostbite? He was so over all these stupid little trips.

"If I get hypothermia are you going to get naked with me?" Alec finally spoke again, after lapsing into silence for a few moments. That got her attention. She swung her head around, leveled a disgusted look at him, and Alec pretended the slap upside his head hurt worse than her look had. "I'm just saying!" he whined, rubbing the back of his head with a whiny huff.

Why couldn't she just give it up, anyway? Didn't they have a city full of transgenics to run? She was really only asking to be overthrown. Leaving Mole in charge while she traipsed around Seattle searching for people to help her so she could get busy with her Ordinary oh it was never the right time boyfriend. Not only was she traipsing around, she had to bring him along as back up! She couldn't take someone else, nooooo, it had to be her good buddy Alec. Her we're pretending we're like that pretend boyfriend. And didn't that make him look like a chump? Everyone knew what they were doing. Alec clenched his jaw to ward off the anger and the chattering of his teeth.

"Never again," he hadn't realized he'd said it aloud until Max slowly turned to look at him, arching an eyebrow, brown eyes narrowed. Alec cleared his throat and decided he might as well man up. "I'm not doing it again," he spoke again, and Max's expression didn't change as she waited for an explanation. Alec didn't notice the way she tightened her hands into fists. "This is the what? Fourth? Fifth trip you've dragged me out on to look for your stupid cure?" he asked and he watched Max press her lips into a thin line, getting ready to argue. "You're dragging your boyfriend," she opened her mouth and Alec fixed her with a glare that, shockingly, caused her to pause, "to go find a way for you to touch your ex-boyfriend," he finished. "I'm not doing it again."

"Alec, it's not even like tha-"

"I swear, Max, if you say that to me one more time, I'll break your nose," Alec threatened in such a serious tone that Max felt a burst of anger so strong she took a swing at him. Alec was ready though, and he caught her fist and slammed her into the other side of the small alleyway they had been hiding in. Max struggled, but Alec pushed her harder into the wall and she stopped when she realized, big brown eyes widening, that there wasn't a way she could shove him off when he didn't want to move. Alec smirked, but the expression wasn't as nonchalant as it usually was.

"I told you we weren't designed to be chumps, Max," he said, "and yet that's exactly what you're making me look like!"

"Alec, I just need your help-"

"You just need me to be your toy," Alec corrected and he shoved back. "And I'm not doing it anymore. Find someone else to help you with your stupid cure search." He turned, and she thought he was going to walk away. Before Alec realized it, Max had him slammed into the opposite wall, hands fisted into the lapels of his coat.

"That's not what it's like," Max insisted in that soft, serious tone that made Alec want to believe her. Her big doe eyes were full of determination and resolve and angst and not a single apology and Alec shoved her off. She hit the other wall with a shocked expression that was quickly masked with anger. She came at him again and in a flurry of movement, she was surprised to find herself pressed against the wall yet again, Alec's body holding her there.

"What's it like, Max? Tell me what you think everyone thinks it's like. Because all that matters is how TC sees you," Alec pointed out and Max's eyes narrowed against his fierce green-gold stare and she hated him because he had a point.

"I just don't want to kill him!" Max insisted and Alec scoffed.

"Then don't touch him."

"But he helps TC out with-"

"He can do it through the web feed and over the phone, and I can pay him visits."

"He's researching the runes that keep showing up-"

"He doesn't have to touch you for that."

"I just don't want to hurt him," Max snapped, all desperation and frustration and Alec almost decided he would let it go. Except that, in not wanting to hurt Logan and in wanting to bend over backward to make that happen, she was putting her stupid relationship over everything else and, more importantly, she was sacrificing him for it.

"But it's okay if Alec looks stupid, right?" he asked, tilting his head and watching her expression as she scrambled for a counter argument. "Alec can be the bad guy and steal you right out from underneath Logan, and then he can be the chump that not only stands aside and lets you two make googoo eyes at each other, but he'll even help you find your fucking cure!" Alec leaned in closer and wished he hadn't when he suddenly realized that not only was he no longer cold, but it was actually getting kind of warm. Had he never been this close to her before?

"Alec, I'm s-"

"Save it," he stepped away quickly, hands jerking back as if she might have burned him, and it wasn't that far of a stretch, really. "Let's just get this over with." He turned away from Max and focused his attention back on the target. He could feel her stare boring holes into the back of his head for several moments before she finally settled down next to him again. They didn't speak the rest of the night.

He stepped into his rundown apartment, glaring balefully at the broken window that made certain it was going to be just as cold inside as it was outside. He really needed to get that fixed. Alec didn't bother shrugging out of his jacket as he made a beeline for the kitchen, grabbing a glass and his trusty bottle of scotch. He watched the amber liquid fill the glass, his expression blank. Yet another fruitless search had ended yet another fruitless day in an endless sea of fruitless everything.

The cold reached all the way through him, igniting an ache in his bones and digging its nails into his very being. He hated the weather. More than the weather, he hated that his mood matched the chilling temperature. Glancing out his broken window, Terminal City looked desolate and empty and just plain frozen. Which was exactly how he felt. Max had that magical draining affect on him, and it was just another thing to add to the list of things he hated.

Slumping down into the patchy, squeaky sofa, Alec turned on the television he had managed to score and watched the images flicker on the screen. The picture was always snowy and the white noise almost drowned out the sound itself sometimes, but television was television. The black and white intro for the Twilight Zone was easy to get sucked into and Alec pursed his lips as he sloshed the scotch around in his glass. Black and white television seemed to suit the grim setting for today anyway.

Three hours later, he was asleep on his stomach, fully clothed, minus his jacket. Alec had carefully tucked himself underneath the blankets to try and keep himself as warm as possible. The bed dipped and Alec stirred, but it wasn't until the covers shifted and the cold, biting air of the room hit him that he woke up. He tensed, doing his best to push the sleep away, opening his eyes and starting to sit up. A hand on his shoulder shoved him back down and Alec rolled onto his back, ready for a fight.

"Max?" he recognized her immediately and he lifted a hand to run over his face. Was he dreaming? That was a disturbing thought. What was even more disturbing was the fact that she did just what she did every time he caught himself dreaming. She slid into his bed next to him, her body curling into his side.

"Don't say a word," she warned and Alec was convinced it wasn't a dream. The threat her tone promised gave it away. Alec tensed as Max snuggled into the covers and stayed close to him and when he finally risked a glance down at her, she was looking back up at him.

"It's cold," was all she said and as he turned to wrap his arms around her, Alec had a feeling that she wasn't just talking about the weather.

* * *

_**Daughter**_

She had always considered herself to be a modern girl. Who needed tradition? There wasn't a single thing traditional about her, after all. She was cooked up in a test tube, not even entirely human. Bred to be a killing machine and a good little soldier. What was traditional about that? She even had a boy's name. Dresses were for manipulating the male masses, and pink was something she avoided wearing if at all possible. Black was more practical and it said you kicked ass. Pink said you liked kittens and rainbows. Max wasn't sure she'd ever seen a rainbow, come to think of it.

Logan was all about tradition. Flowers and wine and pasta and fancy schmancy everything. She was Maxine when they needed a cover, she was Maxine when she went to that silly party that one time. Maxine was soft and feminine and it was everything she wasn't, but it made her fit into his pretty little traditional image. He liked to pretend he wasn't as traditional as she knew he was, though. He liked to pretend he was some hip, modern cyberjournalist who didn't want to wine and dine her and bring her flowers and open doors and everything that was supposed to tell you chivalry wasn't dead.

Alec could take or leave tradition. He opened doors sometimes, but she didn't think he actually meant to do it. He let her walk ahead of them, though, and he let her call the shots when she wanted to. He thought the whole star-crossed lovers thing was stupid, but he thought the way Logan cared for Max was romantic – if you overlooked the creepy, borderline stalker edge he took on sometimes. He didn't really even like pasta, and fancy schmancy only meant there was something worth stealing. But he would push her aside to take a bullet in the shoulder, and he would disarm and disable a man in two seconds flat and save her ass in the way that made you believe chivalry was alive and well and had never been rumored dead to begin with. What was there to say? A girl could get a little weak-kneed watching him mop the floor with some of those jerks the way he did.

Logan got down on one, whirring knee when he asked her to marry him. A tiny little velvet box revealed a not so tiny sparkling diamond and he had the wine and the candles and the cure all right there for the taking.

Alec said he was better for her and he'd steal her a bigger diamond if she really wanted to lug around a rock and make her hand a target for those in Terminal City who weren't as noble as she'd like them to be. He told her he didn't have a real last name to give her, but she could pick whatever she wanted and she could even keep the one she already had if that was what she wanted. Who wanted matching names, anyway? But he thought she'd look beautiful in white.

A wedding was supposed to be in a church with a crowd. With flowers and ribbons and candles and a preacher. There was supposed to be a bride's side of the church and a groom's side, bridesmaids and groomsmen and reserved sections for the families and receptions and a cake. A father was supposed to walk a daughter down the aisle and give her away.

But she was a modern girl. Who needed a church when a warehouse could fit everyone more comfortably? Who needed a preacher when Dix was so eager to do it himself? (He took a course on the internet!) Who needed sides when everyone knew everyone, and what good were reserved sections when they were practically one big family anyway? Cake was overrated and so were flowers and ribbons. Though the few wildflowers some of the younger series managed to find were more adorable than she would admit. Who knew plant life could survive in toxic Terminal City?

He was wearing that stupid leather jacket and those stupid baggy cargo pants, and she didn't care, because she was wearing her leather jacket and jeans, because you couldn't very well ride a motorcycle in a frilly dress. Her shirt was white, and he told her he knew she'd look beautiful. She looked up into green eyes that were practically dancing and she knew that this was everything she'd always wanted even if cotton candy, fluffy white dreams as a little girl might have suggested otherwise. It was just so them.

"Who gives this woman to be married to this man?"

"Joshua," Joshua beamed proudly and then hesitated, clearing his throat as Alec grinned and Max couldn't help the way her eyes got all watery, there was dust in the air or something, "I mean, me. I do."

Who needed to be a daughter to a father, when you could be a Little Fella to a Big Fella?


	3. E,F

Alphabet

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A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm so excited that people are actually taking the time to review this series, you have no idea how happy that makes me. Thanks again and here are parts E and F!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

E – K+

F – K+

* * *

_**Enough**_

He hit the mat with a grunt, nearly winded when his back collided with the worn out, blue, not as soft as it looks training mat they had managed to dig up and stick in an abandoned warehouse. Why he'd ever agreed to taking up sparring with Max was a mystery to him. A certain part of his anatomy still hurt whenever he thought about the last time he'd ended up on the serious business end of a brawl with Little Miss Can't Be Touched. She wanted to work off steam, though, and he had to admit, she'd taunted him into accepting. It started out just once a week. A couple of stiff run throughs, a series of moves that were executed without thought and it was all pretty mechanical. Alec liked it that way, because he didn't leave with bruises and the family jewels remained intact. He got to test out Max's reflexes in a way that didn't leave him fearing for his life or the lives of his unborn.

At least, that was until Normal was murdered leaving Jam Pony after closing one night. Alec had let Max wail on him and he didn't even complain. He taunted her and he fought back. She wouldn't ever admit the loss of Reagan Ronald got to her, not when she had always insisted that she loathed the man. Alec could only say that it was a shame, because he didn't want to admit he'd miss the Ordinary's slightly creepy obsession with him. They mourned the loss of Jam Pony's finest and Alec let Max throw him to the ground when he'd asked for it. _Bip bip bip_ and he was flat on his back, unable to breathe thanks to the force with which she'd slammed him down onto the mat.

After that, they sparred twice a week. A bomb tore apart an abandoned and (thankfully) empty building at the far end of Terminal City and the sparring jumped to four times a week. Four times a week Alec let her hand his ass to him on a platter. He and that stupid blue mat were on a first name, way too friendly basis and Alec just sucked it up and let it happen. Max didn't want to talk about it and that was fine. She talked to Original Cindy or Logan when she wanted emotional security, and she talked to Joshua when she wanted a revelation and understanding. She came to Alec when she wanted to blow off steam. And it was never, never in a good way. Just once, he wished she'd want to work out frustration in a much healthier, much more naked way. They were supposed to be dating, right? The bruise he sported around his eye for a full day was the answer he got when he posed the question about when he was going to start getting any fringe benefits out of the whole deal. He knew better but he just couldn't help himself.

She worked out her frustrations and Alec just built his up. Fighting back and pulling punches only could go on so long before he got bored with it. But he could see the desperation in her dark eyes, and he could see the circles darkening her skin underneath them that suggested even with shark DNA, she could use some rest. The grim line her mouth would set into and the tense, hunched position she always kept her shoulders up in told him she was looking for a fight to win, not a fight to lose. And Alec, always a sucker, threw every fight even when she was so tired it would have been child's play to take the victory.

Sometimes she would slip up. Sometimes that mask would crumble while she was mid-swing or mid-kick or when she thought he was too busy falling on his ass to notice. He'd catch the anguish and the stress and the anxiety flood her features only to see her swiftly tuck them neatly away just in time to deliver another kick to his chest that he always took without blocking. Sometimes he'd catch a tear slip out just before she'd catch him in his solar plexus and by the time he recovered, any evidence that she might have actually cried was gone. It was enough that he couldn't bring himself to ever just beat her. Sometimes he actually gave her a harder run than others. Those were the times when she was feeling particularly nasty and taking it out on him physically just wasn't enough. She'd have to berate him and insult him and lash out at him because she didn't have anyone else to take anything else out on. Those were the times when Alec would at least give her a run for her money before ultimately pulling a final punch and letting her claim her place as winner.

The first time she really pissed him off was a direct result of the first time he'd gone off behind her back. Gadget was blonde and fit and she could do amazing things with those hands of hers. She was all big brown eyes that looked nothing like the ones he was staring into every other moment of his life, and pale, freckled skin that was a contrast to the caramel, bronzed skin he dreamed about. He met her leaving one of their sparring matches and he took her home that evening. She cried his name in a voice that was nothing like Max's and she clung to him like she needed him, which was so unlike the shoves Max dealt him because she didn't. Alec had hated himself not for giving into Gadget's pick up line and all those fantastic curves, but he hated himself for comparing her every step of the way to Max. Since when did she become the cornerstone for everything? It was too scary a thought to pick apart, so he didn't.

Unfortunately for him, word travels fast and two days later, Max was absolutely livid. She was there before he was, and she was all business as he swaggered onto the mat. Alec barely had time to begin to pull his shirt up over his head when his legs were swept out from underneath him and a kick was delivered directly to his side, sending him rolling over onto his stomach with a groan.

"What the hell were you thinking, jackass?" Max snapped as Alec pushed himself up onto all fours. He didn't get a chance to move from there before she kicked him again, sending his temper flaring as he was knocked onto his back again.

"Which time?" Alec snarked, glowering up at Max and quickly jumping to his feet before she could kick him again. Max swung another kick and Alec evaded her, bouncing on the balls of his feet and eyeing her carefully. "What's your damage?"

"What's my damage?" Max echoed him incredulously, and Alec was almost amused at the rage he could detect just barely staying at bay. "Why don't you kiss and tell and we'll just go from there."

Shit. Alec stopped his constant movement and was blank-faced for a handful of seconds. Gadget was already running off at the mouth? That was fast. He must have been pretty good. The confident smirk didn't even have time to finish spreading across his face before Max smacked it off with a frustrated grunt. "Ow, Max! What the hell?" he finally snapped, rubbing the side of his face and taking a few steps back from her.

"What the hell were you thinking, Alec?" Max ignored his outcry and echoed her earlier demand, stopping to place her hands on her hips and glare at the blond transgenic standing before her.

"I don't know. Opportunity came knocking so I answered the door," he pointed out and then smirked, "And man was she smokin'," Alec added on and dodged a punch Max suddenly sent his way. "What's your problem, Max?! It was one night!"

She didn't really have an answer to give him and he could see it on her face. He opened his mouth to call her out, but he caught a kick to the chest and was sent staggering back. The way her eyes were blazing, skin flushed, and jaw set, Alec decided he didn't want to risk it. The last time she looked that angry, he'd been escorted out by Normal and he could barely walk for days. Instead, he just fought back until she started to get tired and then he threw it. Like always, only this time he wasn't the only one walking away with bruises.

The second time she really pissed him off was a week after Logan found the cure. Their not like that status became a like that status and Max went ahead and revealed she and Alec had been lying the entire time and she had never felt anything other than disgust for her good old buddy Alec, the screw up. Paradise was paradise for a week and then she wanted to spar again. She paged him in the middle of the night and he couldn't tell her no, so he slipped out of his warm bed and left Gadget's warm body behind to head down to meet Max.

She punched him in the face the second he stepped onto the mat. Alec staggered back and she didn't wait. Another punch, a kick, another punch and then a mean combo that had him sprawled on his back and seeing red.

"Trouble in paradise?" he taunted, hopping back to his feet, and he caught her foot just as she was aiming for that low blow that she knew would leave him down for the count. Alec, one hand still gripping her ankle, wasted no time in slamming his fist into Max's face, letting her hit the ground without a second though as he hopped backward. "I'll take that as a yes." Max just growled.

They fought for a solid five minutes. Alec mostly dodged blows and deflected them as Max rained down on him unrelentingly. Her eyes were blazing and halfway through, he realized it was a combination of rage and unshed tears that had her eyes shining the way they were. She was a flurry of movement and emotion, barely more than a blur dancing around Alec as he tried his best to keep up without letting go. Something must have gone down and it must have gone down in flames the way Max was fighting, but Alec knew better than to ask. At least, he knew better until she made another attempt to deprive him of procreating and Alec decided he'd had enough.

Catching her leg again, he sent her flying backward with a quick, forceful shove. He didn't hesitate, advancing on her and immediately kicking her square in the center of her chest when she stood up. Alec backhanded her the second she was on her feet, and he bullied and crowded her back until he could get her against the wall, a hand going around her throat. "What the fuck is your problem, Max?" he ground out the second he had her pinned, face inches from hers.

She struggled instead of answered and Alec slammed her back into the wall and pushed harder against her. Enough that Max made a noise of discomfort and a hand did it's best to wrap around his wrist. "Alec-"

"No." He was hard-faced and he was determined and that friendly green that she had learned to enjoy had melted into a dangerous cat-like golden hue that she realized she should probably fear. "What's your damage?"

"Me and Logan had a fight, okay?" Max snapped and tried her best to shove him off, ending up surprised when Alec didn't budge. That was a first.

"So you're taking it out on me?"

"What else am I suppose to do? Back up off me!" Max struggled and shoved at him again, but Alec refused to move.

"I don't know. Smack him around!" Alec snapped and when he stepped away, it was because he shoved himself off her and not the other way around. He watched her where she was still pressed against the wall, chest heaving and her eyes wide. Of all the emotions on her face, the only one he could read was anger and it bothered him. That myriad of things he couldn't identify made him uncomfortable and Alec took a few more steps backward. Max didn't say anything and, after a few moments and after losing an intense staring contest, Alec turned to leave. He had better things to do.

"He wants me to come live with him. Outside of Terminal City." That stopped him in his tracks. Alec didn't turn around though, not until he heard Max step away from the wall and then he slowly turned to face her. She stopped a yard away from him, arms folded across her chest self-consciously. "He wants me to stay with him. Where it's safe." The tone her voice took with the last sentence let Alec know she wasn't impressed with Logan's logic.

"And I told him I couldn't just leave everyone behind. I'm in charge."

"We could do it without you," Alec pointed out the obvious and he watched Max's face as she tucked away the hurt the statement seemed to cause.

"Yeah well, your ass would end up getting everyone in trouble and it's hard enough to keep you alive, I couldn't save everyone when you screwed up," she retaliated and Alec's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, well why don't you go join Logan for some pasta in your ivory tower and I'll show you just how much trouble I can get into," Alec commented snidely and turned on his heel to walk away. Max tackled him around the waist, sending him crashing to his knees. Falling forward and catching himself with his palms, Alec rolled and lifted one arm to throw his elbow back, catching Max in the side of the head. She fell onto her back and kicked out at him, but Alec dodged, slamming a fist into her gut and trying to scramble back onto his feet and get away from her. Max tackled him again though and it was another struggle that resulted in a bloody lip for Alec and a near concussion for Max before they finally reached a stalemate. Alec had Max pinned on the mat, using his body weight to keep her from getting up, and she was stuck on her back, glaring up at him.

"You can't keep coming back to me," Alec insisted and Max rolled her eyes. "You can't. You can't keep expecting me to say yes every time you come calling."

She was silent for several moments, studying him with an unreadable expression. "Why not?"

"Because enough's enough," Alec answered belatedly in a tired tone, and got up. He wiped his bloody mouth on the back of his hand and then wiped his hand on his pants. "I've had enough." He shot her a pointed look where she was still lying on the mat. "We're not like that."

"Alec-" Max sat up and he shook his head, holding up a hand to stop her.

"You let me know when you can say the same." And with that, he'd walked away. Like she would ever get enough of Logan and their angsty star-crossed love. Who wanted straight up happiness when you could have twisted, trial by fire, painful love?

He didn't hear from her for two weeks.

They stopped sparring and she must have moved on, and Alec pretended that it didn't bother him that she managed to just stop coming back to him just like that. He had expected it to be at least a little difficult. But whatever. Who cared? Gadget cared, because she figured it out and stopped showing up. Whatever. She was kind of whiny anyway.

He was down at the mats, loitering and waiting for some X6s or someone to show up so he could convince someone to spar with him. He had heard from Luke who had heard from Joshua that Max and Logan had broken up the day before. Alec had gone out on a limb and figured that maybe if he could hang around and occupy himself long enough, maybe she'd show up looking for him. After an hour of nothing, Alec decided to call it a day. He didn't want her to show up anyway. He was walking out just as she was walking in. Both hands on his chest and he was backed into a wall because Alec didn't even bother putting up a fight, he was so surprised to see her.

"Max?"

"Enough was enough," she said and Alec didn't have a chance to respond before her lips were against his.

* * *

_**Frosting**_

"Are you sure this is right?" Alec looked down at the mess before him and then back up to the beaming dog man beside him. "That doesn't look like it's going to turn out to be much more than… goop," he wrinkled his nose and lifted a hand to scratch his brow. How did he get in this mess in the first place?

"Joshua's sure," the giant transhuman nodded vigorously. "Got the recipe from Original Cindy. Tasty," he insisted excitedly and Alec looked at him for a moment before shrugging. What the hell. What was the worst that could happen? They were both genetically engineered to be pretty awesome at everything, right? This couldn't be that hard. He watched Ordinaries do it on television all the time. And, hell, anything Logan could do he could do better, and while he wasn't exactly certain Logan was capable of much more than pasta, it kind of fell into the same category. Sort of. Whatever.

"So, how are we going to do this?"

"With this," Joshua wielded some ridiculous looking kitchen utensil that Alec was positive could also be a weapon and he eyed it suspiciously. Reason number 12 why he stuck to imitation pork product and bottled beer; he would never be able to readily identify and use all the crazy crap people kept in their kitchens. "Mixes together," Joshua explained and turned the thing on to further prove his point. Alec watched the little things that stuck out of the machine spin rapidly and, while he realized it was going to be a messy, messy day, he also realized that this could possibly end up being pretty fun. He wondered what all the mixer (as they had so cleverly decided to label it) would mix and how fast it could actually do the mixing.

"Well, let's get this party started. Whaddaya say, Big Fella?" Alec clapped his hand on Joshua's shoulder and reached for a couple of eggs. It was going to be a piece of cake. Alec grinned as his mental pun.

"Get this party started!" Joshua agreed whole-heartedly and Alec had to remind him to turn the mixer off before setting it back down on the counter. "Oops," Joshua offered with a grin that was all teeth before he picked up something from the counter behind them and thrust it at Alec. "Be prepared," he pointed out and Alec frowned. Great.

Two hours later, the engine of Max's ninja gave her arrival away. Not that the inhabitants of the rundown house noticed, there were more important things that required all their concentration. She waltzed into the house without knocking, juggling a brown paper bag full of snacks for Joshua and some flea spray just in case. She paused a moment to make a face at the television that was blaring in the living room. Alec's presence in the house still hadn't faded despite the fact he had since relocated. The stupid rap music thumping from the screen was bad enough, but the half-naked women prancing around on the screen was enough to bring a disgusted noise from Max and she quickly turned the television off. Alec's neon green bandit at the back of the house gave away he was already here and the fact that, after she turned the television off, the whole place was silent immediately put her on edge. Joshua plus Alec plus silence most definitely did not equal anything other than trouble.

Standing still in the living room, Max listened closely and that's when she heard to quiet rustling that gave away that she wasn't alone in the house. The noise was coming from the kitchen and she carefully headed toward that part of the house. Her anger was already starting to boil. Alec had already been the reason Joshua had ended up high once before, and Max was going to kick his ass if he had gotten her big fella drunk! Didn't he have better things to do than hang around and be a bad influence on Joshua? And hadn't she warned Joshua that Alec wasn't exactly the best person? Just because they had fun didn't mean Alec was a stand up kind of guy. He was horrible! He was lewd and amoral and… lots of other things that Max couldn't exactly bring to the front of her mind. He almost killed Joshua once! He almost killed her, too! He had risked exposure with his stupid cage fighting and selling drugs and using Sketchy that one time. Alec was just no good and poor Joshua was just suckered right into his little game with Alec's stupid charm and his stupid smile and his stupid everything.

Max was practically infuriated by the time she crossed the living room and made it to the kitchen. She was convinced Alec had gone and done something terrible – like always – and now she was going to have to take care of whatever he'd done to Joshua. Barging into the kitchen, Max's sensitive nose was bombarded by the smell of pure sugar and what was most definitely cake. How hadn't she noticed it when she first came in?

Joshua and Alec were both hunched over the counter, spatulas in hand, and all their attention was focused entirely on a crooked, wobbly cake that sat in front of them on a case of beer so it was closer to eye level for the both of them. They were frosting the cake, apparently, and apparently they hadn't been able to decide which color they wanted to stick with, because the cake was a myriad of colors ranging from orange to green to blue to purple, and the frosting looked more like it had just been smacked onto the cake and less like it had actually been spread out. Joshua was staring the cake down with the same intensity he eyed all of his artwork, a broad stripe of orange frosting stretched across his forehead and a smudge or green colored his nose. His long hair had flecks of purple and pink and yellow in it and Max couldn't help the soft smile when she realized he was wearing an apron and it was covered in a fine dusting of what she guessed was flour and maybe powdered sugar.

If she had been touched by the sight of Joshua covered in frosting and hard at work, the sight of Alec in a similar state was almost heart-stopping. The cake was almost directly at eye level for Alec, thanks to his and Joshua's clever stacking of beer cases, and his green eyes were carefully watching as he tried his best to smooth out the frosting over his side of the cake. A bright pink streak of frosting graced his left cheek, and there was a bit of blue just at the cleft of his chin. His hair managed to escape unscathed, unlike Joshua's, but that was the last thing on Max's mind as she watched him work, tongue sticking out in concentration as he focused on the cake.

It was the fact he was wearing a matching apron that finally had her giving away that she was in the kitchen. Both Alec and Joshua were in bright red aprons and while Joshua's was covered in flour, Alec's was covered in frosting and Max couldn't help the soft laugh that escaped her. Both men stopped what they were doing instantly and looked up at her. Joshua looked ecstatic and Alec looked like a deer caught in headlights. Big Fella grinned and Alec hastily set aside his spatula and took a step away from the cake, trying to wipe his hands off on his apron, only to roll his eyes at the fact he was wearing an apron in the first place. So much for saving face.

"Little Fella!" Joshua boomed, coming around from his side of the counter to embrace Max in one of his bone crushing hugs. Alec took the opportunity to lean nonchalantly against the kitchen counter like he was still the coolest guy in the world and the fact he'd been caught frosting a cake wasn't emasculating at all.

"Whatcha doing, Big Fella?" Max asked once she was released from Joshua's grip and Joshua grinned as she stepped closer to the cake, eyeing Alec for a moment before her attention went back to the multicolored masterpiece.

"Joshua and Alec made a cake!" the dog man declared proudly, moving to pat Alec on the back, who shrugged one shoulder and flashed a 'what can you do?' careless expression.

"Yeah, who's it for?" Max asked, stepping closer, and Alec straightened up from his devil may care stature and he glanced to the living room, moving to make an exit.

"Little Fella's birthday!" Joshua always, always said too much and Alec stopped his retreat and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to act like he hadn't actually been making a run for it. Max looked shocked and Alec looked like he would have preferred Joshua give any excuse other than the truth. Joshua patted Max on the back as she stared at the cake, which suddenly had taken on a whole new level of shiny adorableness. "Joshua has a present!" he exclaimed and disappeared to retrieve it.

Alec watched Max move closer to get a better look at the cake, his expression guarded. After a moment, he cleared his throat and made a move to leave. "Whose idea was it?" Max asked suddenly and Alec stopped and leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest. The pose didn't look nearly as cool with that stupid apron and he fumbled to untie it so he could take it off. He was unsettled when he realized she had moved to stand directly in front of him while he was busy getting the apron off.

"It's just a cake," Alec shrugged noncommittally, picking at some dried yellow frosting that was on his arm.

"Joshua wouldn't know my birthday," she pointed out and Alec looked back up at her.

"You don't have a birthday," Alec countered, trying to pick a fight.

"You've seen my Jam Pony stuff," she ignored his attempt and Alec looked away.

"I thought Josh might have fun-" Alec trailed off when Max moved closer and he made a little strangled noise at the back of his throat when her lips were against his skin. It took him a moment to catch on that she was getting the frosting off his face and Alec tried to ignore the way his body had instantly hummed to life. "Happy Birthday, Maxie," Alec took advantage of the opportunity, pushing away from the doorframe to wrap his arms around Max and catch her lips with his. If he had been shocked at the feel of her lips against his skin, he was even more shocked when she actually kissed him back.

"Max and Alec gettin' busy!" Joshua's voice interrupted them and Max pulled her mouth from Alec's, though he managed to keep her in his arms. She opened her mouth to come up with some excuse, but Alec beat her to the punch.

"That's the plan, Big Fella," Alec spoke up and Max looked back at him with an expression that told him an ass-kicking was coming his way. Alec just grinned and kissed her again. Who knew frosting could turn a girl on?


	4. G,H

Alphabet

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Here are parts G and H! For some reason these two were a lot harder than the other ones, and I even skipped ahead to other letters before I could finally figure something out for these. Hero was the hardest and it didn't really come together like I wanted it to, but the end was kind of inspired by Firefly, which some of you might notice.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

G – K+

H – K+

* * *

_**Girl**_

It hurt, watching her with him. From the first moment, through that chain link fence, to just knowing they were sharing a sector. To know they had similarities that he would never, could never share with her. They shared a history; they shared that pain and that torture and that training and that inescapable engineering that was always looming in the background. They shared a hurt that he just wouldn't be able to understand. There was only so much you could feel and only so much you could experience from a high rise apartment; even after you've taken the silver spoon out of your mouth. He wouldn't know what it was like to kill a man with his bare hands, to be trained how to hunt and how to assassinate and how to be superior to the rest of the world. He would never understand what it was like to have that primal side, that genetic instinct that both of them shared and that _he_ could help her understand.

The worst wasn't watching them. It wasn't the bickering and the glaring and then the laughing and the secret smiles. It was much simpler than that. A swat upside the head that would have him grumbling for the next five minutes. A quick brush of fingers against her neck to make sure she didn't need a touch up on her barcode. A punch to the arm or just their shoulders brushing when they stood side by side. That hurt the worst. It hurt because not only would he never be able to touch her like that, but even when he'd had the chance, they rarely touched. Not half as much as _he_ was touching her, and not half as much as she was touching _him_.

He said once before that it never mattered to him. What she was. It didn't matter to him that she was a transgenic, that she wasn't "natural", if you wanted to quote the media. She was cooked up in a test tube? So what, she had a heart and she had a soul, and she was beautiful for them. The fact she lied and she cheated and she stole… that was fine. She was learning to change and she was becoming a better person. She was leaving that survivalist attitude behind and she was listening to and following that moral compass that he'd always known was there. It didn't matter that she had been created to be a soldier, that she was supposed to be a weapon, an animal. Any animal in her DNA never mattered to him. Even her "destiny" didn't faze him. Savior of humanity? It didn't matter. All that mattered was Max: the girl.

Even after she moved on, he didn't flinch away. He could wait. They were meant to be, she would be able to see that. She would see that he would always just see her. He would see the girl, not the soldier or the animal or the savior. She was just Max. She would realize that it didn't matter to him and she would come back. He was steady and he was unfailing. _He_ was just a screw up. _He_ was a happy-go-lucky sociopath with no moral compass. Not an internal one, anyway, and Max could only lead the way for so long. She would figure it out. He could tell she wasn't ready to let go of what they had, even if she said she was. She didn't pull away from his gloved hand and she didn't even flinch. The first time could have been a fluke; it could have been the emotion of the moment. And even that little bit of knowledge was enough to make him smug for a moment. She chose to take his hand as the flag was raised. Not _his_. It was a minor victory, at the very least.

So when she told him one day that she wouldn't be coming back to Sandeman's house, he was shocked. He had been categorizing her latest runes, making notes and jotting down words in the margins and working out how he was going to convince her to stay for dinner. He hadn't noticed how distant she had been or how she had never quite met his eyes since she walked into the house. He had been patient and now… now it was just over? She explained herself as best she could. It wasn't him, it was her. It wasn't them, it was Terminal City. It wasn't the virus, it was the world. Why couldn't she see that it didn't matter?

She left with unshed tears shining in her eyes and when he heard someone walk through the front door a few hours later, Logan had expected Max's slim frame to round the corner into the living room. It was a slap in the face and a message he received loud and clear when it was Alec who sauntered into his line of view.

"Max forgot her jacket," Alec said bluntly, holding up the leather garment as means of proof. He had offered to retrieve it for a dozen different reasons, one of the foremost being that he wanted to set Logan straight. Tell him the truth. Tell him that he knew Max cared and that he knew it was difficult, but some things just couldn't be helped. He wanted to explain that it pissed him off a first. He hated being the bad guy, he hated that everyone just always assumed she was his girl just because he was her boy – he even hated that people assumed that he was her boy in the first place. But what he used to hate… well, he didn't hate it so much anymore. These days they exchanged late night embraces and quiet conversations more often than public brawls and nasty insults. Alec wanted Logan to understand that it hadn't been subversive, it hadn't been manipulative and it certainly hadn't been seduction. He wanted the Ordinary to understand that it wasn't underhanded, it was legitimate. The bruise that was starting to show on his jaw was evidence to how Max felt about Alec's sudden need for a heart-to-heart with the cyberjournalist formerly known as her boyfriend.

"Look, Logan, I just want you to know-"

"I don't care," Logan cut him off abruptly and Alec had to smirk at the déjà vu they had going on. A glitch in the Matrix, if you will. He shrugged and pushed off the doorframe, turning to leave. If Logan was going to be a little bitch about it, why did Alec have to be the bigger man? "I just don't understa- It never mattered to me," Logan spoke back up and Alec turned back around to face the older man. He cocked an eyebrow and took his former position back, leaning against the doorframe. "I just saw her. Always. I never saw anything else. She was just Max to me, I only saw the girl."

Alec's sudden grin was disconcerting and frustrating, and Logan frowned at him in confusion. The transgenic straightened up again and made that infuriating tsking sound, shaking his head. "You really don't get it, do you?" he asked, and the look on Logan's face told him he didn't. "All that stuff you were busy ignoring? That's what she is. _That's_ Max." He turned on his heel, heading for the door and leaving Logan in silence. "She was never just a girl."

* * *

_**Hero**_

"We go to ground," Mole's gruff voice was no-nonsense and agitated, the words ground out around his unlit cigar. Dix frowned, Alec nodded, and Max slammed her hands down on the table.

"No! This is our home! We have every right to be here," she argued insistently and Mole growled. Alec rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. Logan, who was at Max's side, nodded in agreement with the brunette.

It was the same argument that had been plaguing the higher-ups in Terminal City for a solid week. White had been conspicuously absent on the horizon for close to a month, and it was a week ago that one of Eyes Only's contacts sent word that something was brewing within the military and Seattle's sector cops were being filled in on it and roped in as well. That could only mean bad things for Terminal City, and when Logan passed the news to Max, she passed it on to Alec, and once it got to Alec, everyone in Terminal City quickly found out. He couldn't help himself. And really, he'd only told Mole. And Dix. And Joshua. Whatever. Max hadn't had time to kick his ass for it, though, because Mole had immediately decided that the best bet was for everyone to run. They could hold a reunion later, send out postcards and meet up and shake hands later. Most of the transhumans and those that had spent a greater deal of time at Manticore agreed with the suggestion. Even Alec couldn't ignore the merits of going to ground. It was safer. But of course, little Miss Wants to be Normal would have none of it.

"Max-" Alec started, his tone weary and borderline annoyed.

"No." She cut him off without even looking at him. Alec stopped and Mole smirked. He still didn't argue though, just shot the lizard man a nasty glare and clenched his jaw. For all the authority being SIC gave him over everyone else, Max still treated him like the annoying little sidekick she always had. If Alec knew how to cut whatever invisible ties that made him cling to her like he couldn't function otherwise, he would have left a long time ago. And stayed gone. But twice before he hadn't been able to manage it; chalking it up to a lost cause just saved a lot of time and energy.

"Look, little girl," Mole leveled and Alec watched Max bristle, "this ain't our home," he rolled the word off his tongue with such a mocking tone that even Alec was mildly offended, "You don't give the order and we're all going to die. Even you prissy X5s won't be able to get out of it." Max glowered at him and Luke sighed from Mole's left. The angry transhuman was right, and the longer the argument went on, the more and more people were starting to realize it and get antsy. "Give me one good reason why we should stay."

Max stiffened, shoulders squared. "This _is_ our home. And we can't just give up. We have friends here," she offered and Alec realized her misstep instantly, while Max never saw it coming. Logan nodded once again and Mole finally snapped. It was no secret that most of the transhumans had no love for what was outside Terminal City. They were the most conspicuous, the most ridiculed, and the ones that bore the brunt of the mocking and the damning by the media. They were the ones that couldn't just walk around with free rein, and the majority of them disliked Ordinaries. Even the good natured ones like Dix and Luke were wary, and the longer Joshua spent around his fellow transhumans, the more and more he began to take their side over Logan's.

Mole grunted, waving his sawed off shotgun around for emphasis, and despite the fact the situation had suddenly become a bit more dangerous, Alec couldn't help the quick amusement that filtered through him at the way Logan tensed and gripped the table worriedly. The older man shouldn't have been there anyway. For a million different reasons, but right now, it was because he wasn't transgenic. "_You_ have your Ordinary boy toy," Mole snapped and Alec realized belatedly he probably should have spoken up, considering his and Max's 'couple' status. Instead, he'd just hid a snicker as both Max and Logan protested. "I don't give a rat's ass about Wonder Wheels, and I don't give a rat's ass about all your Jam Pony buddies. And I don't really give a rat's ass about what an 09er thinks of giving up," Mole added on cruelly.

"Hey, buddy, watch it," Alec bit, irritated. One more name-calling and insulting session. That was just what they needed. Since when the hell was he going to have to be the voice of reason?

"We're going to ground," Mole said with a finality that gave away what was happening. Max didn't seem to notice, because she just put her hands on her hips and arched an eyebrow. Mole cocked his gun and that's when Max straightened up again.

"No. Mole, we'r-"

"Too late, Highness," Mole sneered around the cigar in his mouth. "Now it's your decision, you want this takeover to be hostile or not?"

"Mole-" Logan's calm, placating voice finally invaded the room and Alec quickly grabbed him by the arm and hauled him up, putting himself between the older man and Mole's quickly aimed shotgun.

"Can it, Log," Alec offered tersely, "Play time's over." Despite Logan's protests, he muscled the other man out of the shabby, rundown meeting room and pushed him into the hallway. "Get out of TC." Logan started to argue and Alec took a menacing step toward the moron just as Max burst from the room, looking frazzled and upset.

"Alec, what's going on?" she demanded, as if he had a hand in all of it and, most likely, that it was all his fault. Mole breezed by them with Dix and Luke hot on his heels, barking orders like he'd been in control the whole time. Max shot a helpless look at the transhuman's back and didn't know whether she was supposed to tackle him or not. How had she managed to lose control that easily?

"We're going to ground," Alec answered stiffly from his place between Max and Logan, his body still facing the other man. Logan was watching Max intently over Alec's shoulder, mostly oblivious to the sudden charge that had seemed to settle over the entire area. Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse, and Alec was torn between trying to talk sense into Mole, finishing the job of throwing Logan out, or trying to talk to Max about it all.

"We're staying," Max said in a tone that brooked no arguments and Alec wondered how long she'd been making decisions for him. He looked at Logan for a moment, whose eyes still hadn't left Max, and then, without a word, Alec walked away, not bothering a parting glance to Max. She could stare meaningfully at Logan all she wanted, but he wanted to try and do damage control as quickly as he could. Maybe he could get Mole to at least slow down a bit and think things through. Not only had Mole easily dethroned Max, he'd completely cast aside Alec as well, and that definitely didn't sit well.

The barrel of the gun Alec ended up staring down when he tried to reason with the oversized lizard made it easier to accept, though. Because, hey, getting shot was kind of his thing, but a close-range blow with a shotgun didn't seem like the type of injury to add to his collection at the present time. Maybe later. "Mole, come on, buddy. I'm just asking you to wait another day. I'll talk to Max, she'll-"

"Tell you to jump and you'll ask how high," Mole cut him off and Alec's jaw snapped shut with an audible click. That was an unexpected retort and he was shockingly speechless for a handful of seconds, giving Mole plenty of time to barrel onward. "Sorry, Princess, but I'm not waiting. White's loonies could come marching in here at any second – or worse, the military could bomb the hell out of while we're sitting here with our thumbs up our asses," he waved the gun and turned away, "I already sent the word out. If everyone is half as good as their training, this place'll be a ghost town by this time tomorrow." Mole didn't offer anything else, just stalked away, leaving a shocked and seething Alec in his wake.

She found him in his apartment, shoving clothes into a duffle. Max swallowed back the alarm as she watched Alec angrily slam shirt after shirt into the bag, not even bothering to do much more than wad up his pants before slamming them in as well. The frustration was rolling off him in waves, and the anger had the room practically pulsating.

"What's up?" Max asked quietly and Alec didn't slow down, nor did he answer her. After a few moments, Max sniffed unappreciatively and moved further into the room. Being ignored wasn't something she liked much, and if he was doing what she thought he was doing, he needed to tell her so she could tell him to stop.

"Get out, Max," Alec's voice was low and he didn't even glance at her. She had barely taken three full steps into his room. She folded her arms across her chest and brazenly continued her move further into the room, coming closer to him.

"You're not leaving," she said, and that was when Alec's gaze finally snapped up to look at her. The livid indignation that had his green eyes blazing was enough to stop her in her tracks, but Max kept the indifferent look on her face. "What?"

"I'm not your bitch, Max," Alec zipped the duffle angrily, and slung it over his shoulder. "The order's already been made," he said, picking his handgun up off the dresser by the bed, and not looking at her as he brushed by. Max grabbed hold of his elbow and Alec instantly ripped his arm away, only to have her snatch hold of him by the jacket and jerk him back to her. "Let me go," he demanded quietly, glaring over at her with enough anger that she was almost inspired to do what he said. Almost.

"No. What are you doing, Alec? You can't just leave," she insisted, eyes wide, and she was torn between being angry or shocked or hurt or maybe a combo of all three. "This is our home," the tired argument left her lips again and Alec rolled his eyes, "We have to stay. People might need our help."

"I'm not a hero," Alec bit. "And I'm not going to be the sidekick, either."

"You can't just leave," Max repeated weakly.

"Watch me," Alec snapped and shoved her off, heading for the door.

"Finally grew a pair?" Mole taunted as Alec walked over to where he was waiting with Joshua, Dix, and a couple of X6s. Alec didn't respond and Mole laughed, clapping the man on the back, "Man up, Princess, you can cry into your pillow when we're in Canada." Mole bent down and easily pushed aside the sewer grate, letting the X6s disappear down into the sewer before he did.

"Man up," Joshua offered helpfully with a smile that Alec didn't return. The larger man watched Alec stall, the blond's eyes searching around as if he were waiting for someone. "Alec all right?" Joshua asked after a moment and that was when Alec finally managed to snap back into reality. She wasn't going to come. Dix disappeared into the sewer and Alec stepped over after him.

"I'm always all right, Josh," Alec patted the dog man on the shoulder before following after Dix. Joshua didn't buy it, but he followed anyway. What else was there to do?

"Max, just go, we can keep in touch," Logan insisted, but Max shook her head, hugging her arms close to her body as she stared out the empty remains of Terminal City.

"This is my home," she said quietly, and Logan placed a gloved hand on her shoulder for comfort. The latex touch didn't do much, but Max was glad for it. She should have known. They were just doing the only thing they knew. There was a threat and they reacted accordingly. Maybe Mole had been right. Maybe it was safer for them to go to ground instead of making a stand, maybe it wasn't wrong for them to want to live their lives on their own terms and not try to fight. She even understood why Joshua wanted to go. They were his friends. He could see the world, even if was only because he was on the run.

But Alec… she hadn't expected Alec to leave. He was supposed to always been there. That stupid thorn in her side with his talking and his breathing and his laughing and his always being there and having her back. Alec was supposed to stay because she was staying. He was supposed to have her back.

"I'm glad you're staying, Max," Logan offered in a comforting tone, and Max managed a small, weak smile for him as all she could think was _He wasn't supposed to leave_.

White singled her out not even a week after the mass exodus. She had been digging around in one of the abandoned genetics buildings in Terminal City, looking for any information that might help her continue the search for the cure with Logan. The same technology that ended up getting Biggs lynched was the same technology that resulted in Max's capture. She put up a fight, but in the end, with White's inability to feel pain, and a couple of men with tasers, there wasn't much she could do.

"452, we meet again," Ames White swaggered into the room, cold blue eyes and a creepily smug expression on his face. He had to appreciate the similarity of the situation. Once before, he had 452 chained up before him, and here she was again. Only this time, he didn't have his stupid little brother to ruin things.

"Can't say it's a pleasure," Max drawled, wishing she could get the sawdust feeling out of her mouth and wishing her body would stop aching for the beating she'd endured trying to escape.

"Neither can I," Ames said nonchalantly. "Looks like all your little buddies cut and run," he commented and Max kept her expression blank, "That makes it hard for me to do my job, 452."

"Sucks for you," she quipped, only to have electricity race through her body as White jammed a taser into her ribs. He held it against her for a few seconds before pulling away, his expression still smug, his demeanor still casual as Max panted and tried to catch her breath.

"Where's my son?"

"Wouldn't know," she barely had time to finish the comment before he hit her again.

"I'm losing patience," White warned. As was the Conclave. His desire to find his son was costing him valuable trust and he was losing ground quickly, something had to give and something had to give sooner rather than later. Even if 452 wouldn't tell him where his son was, her friend Cale would be able to. Five minutes of interrogation where no ground was gained and the only change was the fact White had lost his patience four minutes ago.

Tossing the taser aside, White reached behind him as Max flinched at the sound of the taser clattering on the floor. He pulled out a handgun and looked it over in his hand. For the first time, Max felt a rush of fear, the chill racing down her spine and forcing her heart into double time. "Like I said," White clicked the safety off and leveled it, point blank, directly between Max's eyes. "I'm losing patience."

For a handful of seconds, she was staring cross-eyed at the barrel of the gun, her mind a frightening blank in the face of death, and in the next, there was a flash of movement, a loud shot in her ear, and then a puff of cigar smoke. It took several seconds for Max to realize that cavalry had come, and she only vaguely registered White's body at her feet, and she wouldn't realize until later that they'd actually killed him.

"Look at that: perfect timing," Mole's gruff voice filled her ears and Max thought she might cry with relief at the sound. A moment later, Alec's face filled her line of vision, and she'd never been so happy to see that stupid, jackass grin on his face. Mole had given him hell for it, but Alec couldn't help it; he couldn't leave her.

He made quick work of freeing Max from the chains, and he winked at her, "Guess that makes me a hero."


	5. I,J

Alphabet

* * *

A/N: As always, thank you for your reviews! I really appreciate them and they're incredibly addicting. I'm so sorry for the big time gap between updates! I'm finishing up with school and I've been sick, which has managed to suck all the inspiration out of me. To the people who wanted me to expand on "Hero", if there's still an interest for it, I might start a companion piece once I finish Alphabet.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

I – K+

J – K+

* * *

_**Imposter**_

He was an imposter. But that was okay, because a guy had to make a living. And he had to admit, he made a damn good looking imposter when you got right down to it. Alec tugged on his sleeve, adjusting the cuff before returning his gaze back to the mirror so he could take another appreciative look at himself. He cleaned up damn good, if he did say so himself. He lifted a hand to fiddle with his bowtie for a moment before dropping his arm to his side and giving himself a once over.

"Whenever you're finished looking at yourself," the slightly irritated voice came from behind him and Alec shifted his gaze away from his own reflection to look at the one standing in the doorframe behind him. He just smirked for a moment before turning around to look at her face to face. She was leaned against the doorjamb, arms folded across her chest tightly, hip jutted out and an unimpressed look on her face. Just like always. But there was a notable lack of black and leather and, Alec had to admit, it was a nice change. Made that nasty glare she shot him as he looked her over not seem quite so harsh. Max was in some slinky red number that dipped low in the front, lower in the back, and had a slit that cut clean up her right thigh, nearly to her hip. He smirked again at the matching stilettos and walked over to her.

"You could probably use a few minutes with the mirror, anyway," Alec chimed sweetly, lifting a hand to tug at one of the tendrils of hair she'd left framing her face, while the rest was twisted into some fancy updo that didn't look like her at all. He swept past her, dodging a punch to his shoulder, and just laughed when Max took the extra five seconds to glance in the mirror just to make sure he was kidding.

He was sitting down on the arm of the couch when she came back out into the living room. Alec ducked his head, hunching his shoulders and leaning away from her when Max pulled at the collar of his shirt to get a better look at the back of his neck. He swatted her away, but it didn't do much good, and they engaged in a quick slap fight that just left Alec trying to readjust his bowtie for the millionth time while Max continued past him and over to where Logan was sitting dutifully at his computer. Alec grinned at the Ordinary, the man's pained, puppy-eyed, pining look easily noticeable through his glasses. Yep, he was an imposter; posing as the Queen Bitch's lovably retarded boyfriend. But he loved watching Logan squirm whenever he had the chance to take advantage of Max's little charade.

That wasn't what made him the imposter tonight, though. Tonight, he and Max were infiltrating some big wig dinner party for an Eyes Only mission. Because they didn't have enough on their plates trying to run Terminal City and dealing with trying to get bills passed and laws rearranged for rights of transgenics. Nope, they were never too busy to do something for the honorable Eyes Only. Especially after said cyberjournalist logged enough hours making doe eyes at Max. Alec had at least managed to get some fun out of the whole deal, though. Logan pulled the strings, snagged the invitations or whatever, but while he had suggested they just go as business partners, Alec managed to convince Logan that, no really, they needed to be married. It would draw less attention! It also gave him the ability to call Max 'Mrs. McDowell' for the past three days, and really, there wasn't much better than watching her practically vibrate with rage each time.

Alec finished adjusting his clothing and looked back over to where Max was with Logan. The older man had one hand on Max's shoulder, his other holding her hand, fingers loosely intertwined and Alec had to roll his eyes. Latex couldn't be that comfortable. He continued to make himself look oblivious though, because really, what else was a faux boyfriend to do? Sending side glanced toward the 'not like that' couple's way, Alec had to swallow back a scoff. He wasn't the imposter. Logan Cale was. Look at him, the way he was touching her face like that. Holding her hand, telling her how beautiful she was. He wasn't even _really_ touching her, it hardly counted. He hadn't been able to touch her for almost a year. And even when he had been able to, they never did. They just had that stupid 'we're not like that' bullshit and that whole 'it was never the right time' spiel. If anyone was fake, it was the two of them. Maybe he and Max didn't exchange stupid wistful angst-filled looks, and maybe he couldn't really actually ever say they'd hugged or anything fluffy and sappy like that, but so what? She touched him all the time. And she didn't need gloves to do it. He didn't need some stupid whirring exoskeleton to let him walk around, and he didn't need to hide behind some stupid Eyes Only mess. If anyone was an imposter, it was most definitely Logan.

Max and Logan were busy talking quietly and being all touchy feely latex-style and finally, Alec decided he was over it. He cleared his throat and ignored how incredibly annoyed he got when they took their time letting go of each other. Like it didn't matter if he caught them. He shot Max a pointed look, but she just raised an eyebrow in elegant nonchalance. The bitch. Logan rattled off all the particulars, what they were going to be accepted to say and do, and Alec cut him off halfway through.

"I know how to behave at a fancy schmancy dinner party, Logan," he pointed out. "Assassin, remember?" Alec commented flippantly, and ignored the way Max set her jaw and Logan looked to her like she was supposed to keep the other transgenic in line. "This isn't my first rodeo, so let's get this ball rolling," he grabbed his duffle and walked out of Sandeman's house.

Logan watched the blond man go, only mildly perturbed and figured maybe Alec was just jealous. He must have noticed how Max was talking to him, and Logan couldn't really find it in his heart to feel bad for the other man. He was the one that took Max away in the first place, and could he really expect her to stick around when she was obviously in love with Logan? What they had was special, after all, and it didn't matter that he wasn't a transgenic. They were meant to be. Alec was really just an imposter. He could pretend to be human, pretend to be friendly and charming and a nice guy, but Logan knew better. He helped put the virus in place, he nearly killed Max, and he put her at risk all the time. Alec was amoral at best, if not just downright immoral. And even if he didn't know it, Alec was just an imposter as far as Max was concerned. He could pretend to be right for her, but Logan knew he wasn't. It was just a matter of time before Max realized that and broke things off. For all the things Alec pretended to be, Logan saw him for what he really was: a fraud, and a dangerous one at that.

"You like doing this crap?" Alec asked, the words low so only Max could hear him as they walked through the mansion with fake smiles, her arm hooked through his to give the illusion they actually didn't mind touching.

"What?" Max's tone was clearly annoyed and her eyes were sweeping the area and looking anywhere but at Alec. But like that bothered him. Whatever.

"_Maxine_," Alec drawled, and Max shot him an annoyed look, which won a snicker from him. "You can't like getting all dressed up and looking like that," he pointed out, and Max's full lips pursed into an offended pout for a moment, before she dug her nails into arm in retaliation. "I'm just saying!" Alec hissed, "You don't even look like you."

"That's the point, jackass," she hissed right back at him and Alec shook his head. She didn't get whatever point he was trying to make and Max didn't think he really even had one. And what did that mean, she didn't look like her? Sure she did. Just… fancier. And damn sexy, if you asked her!

"You know you'd hate it if you had to spend your time hitting up stuff like this all the time," Alec said, and sniffed self-righteously, "Sitting in your mansion or your fancy penthouse, doing nothing but these things all the time," he commented and Max finally caught what he was getting at. She didn't respond, just stormily glared off in the opposite direction of Alec. Like Logan even did that crap. It was just one time she had to do that for him and not for a heist. And she didn't even think Alec knew about that, so whatever. Who cared what Alec thought anyway? "It wouldn't suit you." He added on like he knew her or something and Max ignored the feeling that maybe he did. Alec was figuring her out? Gross.

He didn't say anything else about it for the rest of the night. Didn't mention how it could have been a sign that, inevitably, their cover was blown – in fact, it was probably just her who thought about it like that, so she needed to get over it. He didn't even complain when he was the one that ended up getting punched in the face and when it ended up being him that got the brunt of the beating while she got the goods and he made sure she could do it. Max considered it odd and figured he was up to something. So she didn't stray too far from usual, despite Alec's unusual silence. She was all tough edges and bitch-ass attitude. She smacked him and shoved him and called him awful things, all the while just dying to get back to Logan so this could all be over with. But maybe that was just front these days. Because she still hadn't gone back to Logan's.

Instead, she was behind her desk at Terminal City, the papers she had stolen sitting before her, neatly stacked. She had flipped through them briefly earlier, but they had remained untouched for the past several minutes. Alec was asleep on the dilapidated couch that took up one wall of her office, mouth slightly open, head at what looked like an uncomfortable angle, and the black and blue that had marred his right eye was slowly starting to fade already. She kept telling herself she was just sticking around to make sure he didn't have a concussion or something. Even though she could have just had one of the medics look him over – and wasn't sleeping bad for that kind of thing? Whatever. She just didn't want him dying or anything. Then she'd have to haul his dead ass out of her office and that was just unnecessary work. But he shifted a little in his sleep, brow knitting and, for a moment, Alec lost that peaceful, boyish look he always had (not that she'd noticed before!), and he looked haunted. The expression was only there for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough for Max to catch the way her heart twisted. Alec's expression smoothed out and she sighed heavily. She hated him.

… Or maybe she was an imposter.

* * *

_**Jealousy**_

Two months after the siege on Jam Pony and they were still cut off from the rest of Seattle. The government was still considering them a possible threat – albeit not an immediate one, despite Ames White's efforts – and the sector police still weren't letting anyone out of Terminal City. Which was beginning to become a problem. Just because the cops weren't letting anyone out, didn't mean people weren't coming in. In the past two weeks alone, there had been an influx of over thirty transgenics. They just kept showing up. Rations were running low, housing was running low. Everything was running low.

Which was why, presently, Max was trying to hold a meeting in Command about what to do. Unfortunately, not many people were interested in the fate of their fellow man, considering they would rather chat up the newest additions to Terminal City. One of which just happened to be an old buddy of Mole's. And okay, maybe she could see why they were a little irritated. Or, at least why Mole was irritated. Max had insisted Logan take part of the little meeting via webcam and Mole had instantly decided that he'd had better things to do than let an Ordinary tell him how to handle the current predicament. Which, in turn, had just pissed Max off and made her even more determined to let Logan in on the meeting, because it didn't matter if he was an Ordinary or not! He was still trying to help them. Alec had been absolutely no help in the situation, though, he just kept silent where he was perched on the edge of the table, perusing various blueprints and information on a few dozen warehouses that they were looking to liberate goods from.

After a few minutes and no one had paid her any attention, Max headed over to Alec and gave up the battle. Apparently, it was just going to be the two of them working to feed all of Terminal City. Alec shot her a wary look when she came over, but he just shrugged when she took one of the blueprints from him and unrolled it out onto the table. She wasn't bitching, so he figured he didn't have to find an excuse to bail on her for the time being. Though Alec did have the sneaking suspicion that he was about to be doing a hell of a lot more work than he really wanted to do. His gaze darted to Mole for a moment and Alec sighed. Damn lizard man and his little hissy fits over letting Logan listen in. It wasn't like they actually had to listen to the bespectacled man, so what was the big deal? That was a stupid statement, because of course they'd have to listen to Logan, because Max would say so, and everyone knew, everyone had to listen to Max. Alec rolled his eyes, glancing toward the entrance when he heard Luke's voice. The transhuman had gone to meet some newcomers and show them around earlier, and Alec's curiosity on who they might be overran his want to pay attention to Max, who had actually started talking a few minutes ago, but Alec had successfully tuned her out.

"- and this place looks easy enough to get into. I bet we could get in and out easy, and we could probably make it a two-man job if we played our cards right. I could get Logan to-" Max was saying, but she cut herself off when Alec spoke. She'd heard the word several times before, but it had been months. The last time had been with Biggs, actually, and it wasn't so much the word as it was his tone.

"Lola," was all he said, but Max was pretty sure that she had never in her entire life hear someone manage to take the human language and, in just two syllables, turn it into the complete embodiment of lust. The way Alec's tone lowered, the way the name rumbled in his chest, it had every hair on her body at attention and Max ignored the way the sound made her stomach flip. _Especially_ considering one very problematic fact: who the hell was Lola? She looked away from Alec and over toward the entrance to Command to see for herself, and Max straightened up from where she'd been leaning over the table.

_Lola_ had to be the petite woman walking in after Luke and Dalton. Jet black, wavy hair fell down to nearly her elbows, and she had caramel-colored skin that was just a few shades darker than Max's own. Max folded her arms over her chest as she looked the other woman over. Curves a guy could get lost on, legs for days, and well… Max wasn't entirely sure how she was managing to stand upright, because she seemed a little top heavy. Max wrinkled her nose a bit, continuing her critical overlook, when suddenly she realized Alec wasn't standing alongside her anymore. He'd dropped the papers he was holding, leaving them in a messy pile on the table, and he was already halfway across Command.

"Alec," Max's voice was almost a whine, but he didn't even turn around. She snorted in aggravation, unfolding her arms so she could place her hands on her hips and glare at his back. Who the hell did he think he was? Just walking away from her like that. They were in the middle of something important! She was still glaring daggers at his back when Alec made it to Lola, and she watched the raven-haired woman's face light up and Max instantly decided she didn't like the implication behind the pouty-lipped smirk the other woman gave Alec. What kind of name was Lola, anyway? Her eyes narrowed as Alec decided to give the other woman a hug, and the completely murderous look on Max's face was overlooked by Dalton, who had strolled up to Max innocently.

"Hey, Max!" he greeted cheerily, "Just one person showed up today, an X5," he reported, "Her name is-"

"Lola," Max ground out and breezed past Dalton without so much as looking at him. The blond X6 stopped mid-sentence and looked after the brunette for a moment with a confused look on his face. How did she already know?

Striding down to where Alec _still_ had his hands on the other woman (really, who hugged that long? How was that necessary?), Max stopped a few feet away and feigned interest in what Luke was telling her, though her eyes never left Alec's back. What was the big deal about Lola anyway? She didn't even seem that pretty. And when you got up close, her nose was a little big. Max continued to pick apart the other woman while Luke was talking, and when Alec and Lola (that was such a stupid name) finally decided to stop embracing, she walked abruptly away from Luke, despite the fact he was in the middle of a complicated explanation of… whatever he was talking about, and headed over to where Alec was standing.

"It's so great to see you… you go by Alec, right?" Lola was practically purring and Max felt a little smug that it was _her_ name she had given Alec. "You know, we should really catch up some-"

"I'm Max," Max forcefully cut off the other woman's suggestive invitation and Alec snapped his head over to look at her, mild irritation evident on his face. She crowded next to Alec, standing so that their arms were touching as she folded hers across her chest; chin up as she looked at Lola.

"452," Lola offered up to show that she recognized Max, and Max didn't even care that she didn't seem accusing, because she probably was anyway and she was just hiding it.

"_Max_," she corrected stiffly, and Lola's gaze flicked from her to Alec and Max pretended it didn't make her blood boil. "I'm in charge. You can go talk to Luke about finding a place to stay." She made certain her tone left no room for argument, and Lola looked to Alec again, as if he was going to say something on her behalf to Max.

"Actually, Maxie, why don't I just-"

"_Alec and I_," Max stressed, not looking away from Lola, "are busy, and we should really get back to work." She grabbed hold of Alec's elbow when he started to protest, "Nice meeting you, Lola," Max quipped dismissively and shoved Alec a step back and hauled him after he.

Once they were out of earshot from Lola, Alec chuckled and Max shot him an icy glare. "What?" he offered innocently, "Things just got a lot more exciting around here, Max. Man, this one time, when we were on assignment in-"

"I don't care," Max cut him off and Alec furrowed his brow in offense. Max sniffed and rolled her shoulders, folding her arms across her chest again. "She's not even that pretty," she pointed out after a moment, before turning on her heel and continuing back to where they had been originally. Alec stood where he was for a few moments, before a broad grin lit up his face and he followed after her.

"Maybe not the prettiest," he conceded, and Max only spared him a brief glance from where she had started pouring over the blueprints again, brown eyes guarded. Alec lounged against the table, oozing confidence that was just starting to get on her nerves when he spoke up again, grinning cheekily. "Green doesn't look nearly as good on her as it does on you."


	6. K

Alphabet

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm so, so sorry I've been MIA for... a long time, it seems. I had some serious computer issues and I haven't been feeling well. But now that things have evened out, hopefully I'll be able to get this series out and finished in a much more timely fashion. This is just part K, as I'm not quite finished with L but I didn't want to keep anyone waiting any longer than I already have.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

K – T

* * *

_**Kiss**_

It was such a stupid tradition. And who really even used churches anyway? They were just old buildings where people used to go when they used to believe in that mumbo-jumbo about a higher power and purpose. Every time he'd ever been in one it was always empty. Unless people were dying or... in this case - well, it wasn't so different than dying. At least from his perspective. And who liked roses? They were boring. The blood red flowers were all over the damn place and it was like a Valentine's day gone horribly wrong. And all the lace. Lace. Frills and ruffles were everywhere and it was just so damn unlike anything he'd ever seen that he just couldn't buy it. He'd never seen her in anything frilly. Sketchy told him about that one time when she helped him out, but he wasn't sure frills and/or ruffles had been involved and Sketch still described it as a trippy experience. Of course, they probably didn't make designer wedding dresses in leather, and black probably wasn't exactly a favorite either.

Weddings. Totally stupid tradition. And that whole stupid tradition that went with the tradition. Something old (he'd say Logan, but there was always a good chance the pre-Pulse wine he was going to be shoving down her throat was older than him... maybe), something new (that rock on her hand, which he could have fenced for a couple thousand and probably got her a bigger one to boot, not that he would have or anything), something borrowed (that dress, for starters, it had to be stolen, which was kind of like borrowing), something blue (could he count, if it was more of a turn of phrase?). What did any of that even mean? And why was any of it necessary for a wedding? Why were weddings necessary to begin with? If you were going to be Not Like That, why just be Not Like That? Why go and make it official? It wasn't like it was irreversible. People got divorced all the time. Sort of negated the purpose, didn't it? if you could just erase it and move on? Whatever. Who even cared if they were getting married. More power to them, or whatever. She could be Mrs. I Like Pasta and Wine and Being a Patronizing Self-Righteous Ordinary, and maybe that was a really long title to pick up, but she was already Miss I'm a Self-Righteous Better Than You Bitch, which was almost as long, so what did it matter?

Maybe he was bitter. He was if you asked Mole, but who really cared what he thought? Like Mole could understand the vast complexities of a Really Not Like That relationship. If Mole had ever so much as kissed a... lizard lady, he would be shocked. He'd have to get rid of that damn cigar first, and like that was ever going to happen. Dix probably got more play than Mole did. Not that getting play was what mattered here. This was about stupid traditions. Like weddings. Because, not only was the whole concept silly, so was the fact he was having to be in it. What the hell was that about? Why did you need a posse to just look at each other and officially be official? But whatever. Logan had asked and then she'd all but told him he was going to do it. His tux didn't fit right. Or maybe it was just hot in the church. Or tuxes were just a bad idea and whoever invented them must have been an evil mastermind, because this fucking bow tie was driving him up the wall and it was almost distracting enough that he could ignore the vows being exchanged. They rolled around to yet another stupid tradition - asking people to object. Did anyone really do that other than the protagonists in cheesy romantic comedies? Was that the protagonist? Details. And even if someone objected, would that really bring the wedding to a halt? Would they just accept the objection with a "thank you very much, we hadn't realized!" and then call the whole thing off? He doubted it. So when the question was posed, he met Max's eyes over Logan's sloping shoulders and he held her gaze for the handful of silent seconds until the preacher started up again. Then he went back to resisting the urge to fiddle with his blasted bow tie.

In hindsight, maybe he should have said something. Gone out with a bang. Pulled the whole romantic comedy thing with an objection and a boom box - maybe not the latter part, because that was a different movie, if he recalled correctly. Details. It probably wouldn't have hurt anything, other than Logan's pride and it might have offended Max's sensibilities, but hey, that was something he did on a regular basis, so maybe holding back wasn't the greatest idea. Maybe he could have at least cleared his throat or feigned a sneeze, mouthed something to Max from behind Logan's back. Anything. Instead, he stood aside, hands clenched at his sides and he let the ceremony continue. The preacher kept talking, they said their 'I do's, and then Logan decided to take a moment to launch into a wordy, lengthy, monologue concerning his epic love for Max. Oh please. Like the Ordinary would really know epic if it broke into his penthouse and bitch-slapped him.

Now _he_ and Max... they were epic. Okay, maybe not epic like Homer would write about... or maybe so, considering some of that stuff was pretty whack. Not that he'd know, because the only Homer he knew had a penchant for donuts, not writing epic stories. But Joshua told him about it one time. He and Max were way more epic than Logan and his Eyes Only crusade. They had superhuman abilities, haunted pasts, and there were even evil forces after them! Not to mention he had tried to kill her and he had the face of her dead "brother". How was that not epic? The only thing epic about Logan and Max was the age difference, if you asked him. No one ever did, but whatever. Sure, they had that whole Ordinary/Transgenic boundary, but that wasn't epic. That was just details. If Rachel hadn't... well, if that hadn't gone the way it had, they wouldn't have been epic either. Even with things going like they had, it wasn't epic. And if that hadn't been epic, Max and Logan sure as hell weren't. There had been an explosion with Rachel!

That sobered his thoughts up a bit, and Alec's mind slowed down and stopped skipping as he came around to the idea that maybe he just didn't know what love really was. Maybe he had managed a glimpse at it with Rachel, but it had been too late by then, and he'd been too lost in his Manticorian ways to understand it enough to appreciate it. So what if it was too late now, too? What if he really was too far gone for that sort of thing? Alec looked around the church - which he still thought was stupid, because since when was Max religious? - and he looked around at the people - at OC across the way, Sketchy and Normal in the pews, Joshua to his side, and Mole lounging in the back with a cigar (hey! how was that fair, if he couldn't wear his cargo pants, but Mole could smoke?!). Was he really missing out on something everyone else seemed to see? Alec's nose wrinkled slightly at the idea and he took another look. OC seemed impatient, Sketchy seemed bored, Normal... Normal was looking at him and Alec snapped his gaze away. Weird. Joshua looked a little less giddy than Alec would have figured, though the dog man was still beaming, and Mole seemed disappointed. Which, after a few moments, smoothed out Alec's sour expression and he smirked. Of course Mole was disappointed; no one had objected! Alec continued to let the wheels in his brain turn, and he continued to think. He should have objected. Maybe he should have talked to Max before - not, you know, for any romantical reasons, because that was silly - but she was marrying an Ordinary!

The excuse presented itself with fanfare in his head and Alec could barely suppress a broader grin. And hey, really, when Max went after him, he'd just say he was doing it for Mole. Poor lizard had probably only showed up in hopes for a scene and his good buddy Alec (the 'good buddy' part Mole would vehemently deny) couldn't just leave him hanging! It had nothing to do with the way that, despite the fact she looked out of place in it, Max in that dress had caught his breath. Or the way his stomach had hit the floor when he saw the rock - because it wasn't like she'd actually told _him_. He had to figure it out. It didn't have anything to do with that. Really.

"You may now kiss the bride." Yet another dumb tradition, what did kissing show, anyway? It wasn't like it was their first time. But anyway, it was the perfect opportunity and Alec snorted. Loud enough so that it could be heard clearly, and he swallowed back the grin as Mole straightened up from his bored lounge in the back and swallowed back that anxiety that came with knowing Max was going to kick his ass. Just like he thought, she'd frozen. And did Logan sigh? Hah.

"_Excuse_ you?" Max's voice was full of attitude, head cocking to the side as she glared around Logan's shoulder at him.

While he'd meant to say something infuriating like 'he's just an Ordinary' or 'Mole dared me to' or something equally dumb enough to make Max see red and ruin that frilly white dress kicking his ass, "He's the wrong guy," came out instead and Mole's low whistle in the back made it all the way to Alec's ears. Shit. His eyes widened a fraction, shocked green still staring into angry brown and Alec could have backpedaled, but since when did he do that? That would just make him look even stupider. Logan turned around to stare at Alec through those stupid glasses, blue eyes a mixture of incredulity, disgust, and... pity? Alec bristled but OC cleared her throat and Alec's attention left the older man. "He's the wrong guy," Alec restated, his tone clear that by Logan being the wrong guy, he meant he was the right one. Whatever. He still did it for Mole.

A handful of seconds went by and that was all it took for Alec to realize Max wasn't going to say anything. Which was just typical, really. Or maybe not, because that fish out of water look wasn't really standard and she hadn't even yelled at him. Alec stared at her for a moment longer before giving up. It was time for the epic storming out. Sliding his gaze away from her, Alec refused to meet Josh's eye and headed back up the aisle. Maybe that'd piss her off, too. He made sure to step on as many of those stupid rose petals as possible. Alec decided that the pain in his chest was disappointment that she hadn't caused a scene and not something stupid like his heart breaking, and he decided that sick feeling in his stomach was all those pork rinds he'd eaten for breakfast and not embarrassment over making a fool of himself. It wasn't like it meant anything or whatever. He was just causing trouble. Pulling an 'Alec', as she would probably say: screwing things up. Ruined her little dream (stupid) wedding. Served her right. For what? He wasn't sure, but he made sure to stomp particularly hard on a couple of the petals as he neared the back of the church and expressly avoiding making eye contact with Mole.

Later, he would wish he'd turned around to see the decision dawn on her face. Wish he would have at least glanced over his shoulder once so he could see her stomp after him with as much determination and rage as a frou-frou, puffy white dress would allow. It wasn't until she grabbed him, both hands gripping his bicep and yanking him back around, that he realized she'd come after him. All that damn whispering from the people in their pews had tuned out her angry footfalls. Alec whirled around easily, shooting Max what was supposed to be a cocky, devil-may-care smirk, but it sort of failed. She smacked him, though, and so it didn't matter. Alec opened his mouth to say something but, instead, Max's hand moved to the back of his neck, fingers sliding over his bar code, before she tugged him forward and lifted up on her toes, kissing him firmly. He was shocked, and it took a fraction of a second for Alec to realize he needed to take advantage of the situation and just hope it wasn't some ploy to get another well-aimed kick to his favorite part of his anatomy. Max broke the kiss barely seconds after Alec had started enjoying it, and he blinked at her.

"Jackass," she groused, before grabbing his wrist and hauling him the rest of the way up the aisle, leaving a stunned Logan, a slack-jawed priest, an amusedly confused Joshua, and a smirking Original Cindy at the altar.

"Leaving so soon?" Alec teased as Max continued marching him out, whatever was going through her head, an ass-kicking was probably on the list somewhere... though he was hoping it was down near the bottom of the list. Mostly because he was hoping there would be an 'I love you, Alec' admission at the top (not that he cared, or anything) and then maybe some Max and Alec gettin' busy right after that.

"You hate weddings," Max pointed out, because he'd made sure to say that at least fifty trillion times during the whole planning process (which, no, she wasn't exaggerating, thankyouverymuch).

"What are you talking about?" Alec turned his hand to break her grip and catch her wrist in his own grip, pulling her forward. "We're walking out right at the best part," he grinned before leaning down and kissing her again, because hey, what was a wedding without some serious kissing? That was why she bought the dress, right?

* * *


	7. L

Alphabet

* * *

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I apologize for any errors that might be in this chapter. I don't have a Beta right now, but I've done my best to look through it for any errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or any of the characters. The prompts are nickeldime17's, not mine, and I won't even pretend that my attempts will be nearly as good as hers.

L – K+

* * *

_**Last**_

They had managed to last this long. Barricaded inside Terminal City, they survived. It wasn't the lap of luxury, but none of them had ever really experienced that before anyway. It wasn't really freedom either, but it was a lot like it and that was something. That was more than they'd had before, and that was something too. At least, if you were Max it was something, and if you were Joshua it was something. But to others... it was just a cage with a little less structure, a little less reliability. You can take the soldier out of the training, but you can't take the training out of the soldier. That was how Logan tried to explain it. Max thought that was stupid, because she wasn't anything like that. When he pointed out that, well, who had been using her powers for petty theft in the not too distant past, Max had sniffed and left Sandeman's house with an indignant "I gotta blaze." That was for survival! How else was a girl supposed to eat?

Things were different now. They were working hard to get on the legit side of things. The government was eyeing them, they were doing their best. The world was going to see eventually. It was just going to take time. Everyone would see. Everything was going to work out. They would be completely free eventually. The world would accept them and they could live happily ever after just like all those stupid fairy tales. Max knew it. They hadn't worked this hard, lasted this long for it to happen any other way. Sure, protests still happened just outside the barricade, and sure the sector cops were more than a little prejudiced. But that was human nature, right? You were suspicious and you hated the things you weren't familiar with, but then you accepted them. Happened with minorities and women in the past, now it was their turn. Max was optimistic.

Max was wrong.

It wasn't the first time that the human race had systematically eradicated anything. Genocide was nothing new, and Max was fighting so hard to believe that things could be normal that she never saw it coming. Was blind to it like she was blind to so many other things. The news reports, Sketchy's intel, she turned a blind eye to all of it. Things were going to turn around. They just had to wait. But even the great Eyes Only, with all his hacks, couldn't change the opinion of the blind masses. The fearful. Humanity had a herd mentality, just as base and animalistic as anything cooked up in Manticore. When the herd panicked? They stampeded. Only the blind, dumb fear that gripped the public wasn't so dumb and it wasn't so blind when you got to government levels. It was armed and it was fixated. And Terminal City? Made a perfect target.

Logan got the information to Max barely forty-eight hours before disaster was scheduled to rain down on them. The sector cops had tripled in their numbers around the barricade, and Dalton had reported seeing tanks roll into Seattle earlier in the morning while he was out on a run (that he shouldn't have been on, but that, despite Max's orders, Alec had let slip). They were locking down and closing them in. Blocking all exits so that, when the air strike happened, they had nowhere to run.

Mole, predictably, was the first to blow up. He shouted and he raged and he threw things for a good half hour. Max couldn't get a word in edgewise. Luke and Dix simply sat aside quietly, Joshua was more confused than anything else, and Alec bided his time. Dalton eavesdropped just outside the commander center with a handful of his buddies, determined to figure out what was going on despite having been tossed out on their asses by a livid Max. At least, they were determined until Alec pulled the door open and caught them. Mole's booming voice instantly flooded the hallway and Dalton scrambled back. His buddies all made a run for it, but Alec caught him by the front of his sweatshirt. The blond X6 flashed a sheepish smile that was his best attempt at looking innocent, but Alec's hard gaze had him opening his mouth to apologize before the older X5 even said a word. Alec didn't get a word out when there was suddenly a surprised bark from Joshua, followed by the telltale sound of flesh making contact with flesh and then a stifled cry from Max. Alec instantly released the mischievous X6 and wheeled around. Mole was seething, hand still fisted, and Max was hauling herself up off the ground with a murderous look on her face, lip clearly split open.

"Get out," Alec was the first to speak as Mole rested his shotgun on his shoulder and Max stalked toward the scaly transhuman. Both stopped and looked at him, but Alec was only looking at Mole.

"What's the matter, Princess, your girlfriend off limits or something?" Mole drawled, completely unimpressed with Alec's sudden anger.

"I said get out, Mole. That's an order," Alec pulled rank without the inflection of his voice changing an ounce. The muscle in Mole's jaw ticked as he glared hard at Alec, and the room settled into a tense silence. The two had an uncomfortably long macho stare down and just when Max was about to make a remark, Mole growled and stormed past Alec, slamming his shoulder into him and sending Alec staggering a few feet to the side. "Don't go away angry, just go away!" Alec called after him in a mockingly cheery tone. The door hadn't even slammed shut and he was already heading over to Max, one hand lifting up so he could rest it against her face - but she immediately slapped it away, glaring. "I just want to-"

"We have work to do," she snapped and brushed past him. Alec turned around, a bemused look on his face and he rolled his eyes.

"I'd call it running for our transgenic lives to be more accurate," he commented, shooting a look to Joshua, who nodded conspicuously and shuffled over to Dix and Luke, shepherding the other two transhumans elsewhere - the order already given. He was going to catch hell for it later, but Alec had talked to Mole long before they all got into a room together. Max would never agree to going to ground, but Alec knew what had to be done.

"We're not going anywhere," Max said, true to form, and Alec sighed. "I just need to get Clemente on the phone. Or Logan can do something. We just need to work this bitch out," she said and Alec scoffed.

"They have bombers on their way here, Max. Were you even listening? Tanks, sector cops. We're going to be lucky if we get out of this at all," Alec leveled seriously. "We need to grab what we can, trash any computers, delete databases, we need to cauterize-"

"Don't talk like that!" Max interjected, voice rising. "Don't talk like that. This is our home, this is our-"

"This is going to be our _grave_ if we don't get moving!" Alec cut her off.

"No, we'll figure something out," Max insisted blindly. "We'll figure something out. We'll take precautions, but we can do this. We can make a stand."

"We won't be making _a_ stand, Max, we'll be making the _last_ stand if we stay here!" Alec barked. "Get it through your head: they're going to blow this place off the map and we need to not be here when it happens."

Max stared at Alec for a handful of seconds, dark brown eyes flooded with a dozen different emotions, and he could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Moments ticked by and Alec hoped she was getting it through her skull. Max swallowed and, just when he thought he had managed to get through to her, she let him down. "No. We're not going anywhere. I'll talk to Logan and-"

"The order's already been made, Max," Alec admitted guiltily, clearing his throat and not looking directly at her. "Me and Mole worked it out before we even came down here." Max stared at him, jaw slack and eyes wide. "I knew you wouldn't want to budge, but no one else wants to be a martyr. No one else needs to be."

"I can't believe you!" she erupted after her voice finally came back to her, and Max was shocked at just how utterly betrayed she felt. Alec, of all people! Just when she was beginning to trust him. "How dare you-"

"Save the self-righteous guilt trip for later, Maxie," Alec said, lifting up a hand. "Listen."

She fell silent and just when she opened her mouth to tell him that he _knew_ she hated that name, Max tensed. Clear as day, even as faint as it was: gunfire.

"The calvary's early, I'm betting," Alec said and he strode forward, hand clamping on Max's elbow and he hauled her toward the door. "We gotta blaze and we gotta blaze double time," he said, and for the first time, she realized how strained his voice was, how tense he really was. This was real. This was really happening. It had taken her down to the very last instant for her to finally piece it together, but now it crashed into her and if it weren't for Alec dragging her along, she wouldn't have been able to move.

He hauled them both through the building and burst through the door only to instantly reel backward when gunfire showered around them, pinging off the doorframe and the door. Alec shoved Max backward and threw himself inside as well, slamming the door shut and locking. The wounded hiss he gave told Max what she needed to know.

"You got shot," she said, tone almost accusing.

"Had to. One last time, for nostalgia," Alec quipped and they rushed to find another way out.

It proved almost impossible. They could hear gunfire, hear people storming through the building. "It makes no sense!" Max insisted, "I thought they were going to drop bombs."

"Flushing us out, corralling us," Alec answered stiffly, his good hand clutching his wounded shoulder as they hurried through the building, keeping low and quiet. They finally made it to an exit that wasn't being watched and Alec peeked out to make sure the area was really clear. He turned to talk to Max when he suddenly realized it was suspiciously quiet. They slipped outside and Alec glanced up just in time to see a jet scream by, the sound following seconds behind the craft. "Oh shit."

The first bomb took out a building a few blocks over and Alec let go of his shoulder and grabbed hold of Max's hand, yanking her after him as they blurred through the empty streets, heading for the closest entry into the sewers. The sound of the explosions were almost deafening, and it wasn't until the building they were racing for burst into a cloud of brick, smoke, and fire that Alec realized they probably weren't going to get out.

"Max! Max," he stopped abruptly, and she turned around to shoot a panicked look at him.

"We're almost there, what are you doing?" she shouted at him, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the sewers that were only a few short blocks away. They could be home free in a few minutes. She didn't like the resigned look on Alec's face. That look that was so hauntingly, painfully familiar. The sweat that was on his brow, the pale color his skin had taken on with the blood loss, that look that was a mixture of fear and defeat. "No way," she shook her head and reached for his arm. "Not gonna happen Hot Boy," she insisted, but Alec pulled his hand away. Another explosion near by caused the ground beneath them to shudder.

Three years of living in Terminal City. Longer since he'd first laid eyes on her, not quite as long since he'd called her a good friend. Not nearly as long as he counted her as something more. And it was all about to get blown away. He could hate her, if he had more time. Hate her for being stubborn, for that goddamn martyr complex she was always so quick to embrace. But there wasn't time for that. She read his face, and Alec hated that look that dawned across hers. He stepped back from her again, putting more space between them, because it was easier that way. The building beside them shook with an explosion, but Alec barely heard it. One last chance to get out what he wanted to say. He'd made the mistake of not telling Rachel and he wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Max-"

The world lit up and then went horrifically black.

* * *

Max woke up and her head was throbbing. The light was so bright it burned while her eyes were still shut and she squeezed them tighter in an attempt to ease the glaring red that was blinding her. She groggily attempted to run through her mind and figure out why she was where she was... which, she realized she needed to find out where that was before she could do that. Cracking one eye open just slightly, she only took in some really bad wallpaper when it all rushed back to her.

"Alec!" Max's eyes snapped open and she sat up. Immediately, hands were on her shoulders pushing her back down and she struggled against them.

"Calm down, Ice Queen," the gruff voice could only belong to one person and Max's brown eyes finally focused on the large, scaly, incredibly irritated transhuman.

"I'm gonna kick your ass, you slimy traitorous-"

"Calm down," Mole cut Max's angry rant off prematurely, repeating himself in a bored tone. "You ain't kicking nothing for awhile, Your Highness," he pointed out. And, after taking a moment, Max realized he was probably right. Especially with the way the world was suddenly spinning. She slumped back down, wincing at the soreness that was radiating through her entire body.

"Where's Alec?" she insisted weakly, trying to look around and see if there were any other familiar faces.

"Hell if I know," Mole said carelessly. "I was too busy hauling your carcass underground." He chomped on his cigar, the only sign that maybe he was uncomfortable with the topic. "Call it a casualty," and with that, he got up and walked out. Max barely had time to shoulder the guilt and the grief that was crashing onto her shoulders before she slipped into unconsciousness again.

* * *

"Little Fella," the thick, chuffing noise filtered through her mind, and Max distantly felt a pressure on her hand. It took a moment for her to realize that it was enveloped between two much larger ones. "Little Fella awake?"

"Joshua," Max's eyes fluttered open and, after a moment, Joshua's large face came into focus incredibly close to her own. "Hey Big Fella," she offered quietly, voice heavy with weariness, pain, and grief as Mole's parting words filtered back through her mind. Her eyes started to cloud over with tears and Joshua frowned.

"Max in pain?" he asked, concern etched into every syllable.

"Yeah, not just physical," she admitted apologetically. Would Joshua forgive her for getting his good buddy Alec killed? "I'm so sorry, Joshua," Max apologized tearfully. Who else had been lost?

"Very touch and go," Joshua commented gruffly, sniffling. "Little Fella almost bought it," he added helpfully and Max couldn't help but wonder who had taught him that turn of phrase.

"Joshua, about Alec...," she started uncomfortably.

"What about Alec?"

Max snapped her head over to the door of the room, and she stared blankly for a handful of moments. "Cat got your tongue?" the horrible, stupid turn of phrase left his mouth like nothing had happened and she wanted to throttle him. Or kiss him. Or kick his ass for a week straight. Or hug him. Or punch that stupid grin off his face. She didn't know. But there he was, in all his stupid, no-good glory. His arm in a sling, a bandage wrapping around his head and leaning on a crutch. What an asshole.

"Mole said-" she trailed off dumbly.

"Mole's just bitter I pulled through," Alec said with an uncomfortable shrug, and he's never been more relieved to see anyone in his entire life. The blast had knocked them both down and out, and for some suspicious reason (the lizard claimed he forgot his cigars) Mole had found them both and hauled them to safety. Alec had been ragging on him from the instant he had regained consciousness. He knew the transhuman had a soft spot somewhere! "He doesn't want me blabbing that he came back for his two most favoritest transgenics ever," Alec quipped with a soft smile. It had been a day, and he had been terrified that Max wasn't going to wake up. Not that he'd ever tell her that. He'd come so close to showing her all his cards there at the last second, but now... he'd tucked them all back up his sleeve. Alec caught himself in what could probably only be called a gaze, looking over Max, and he quickly cleared his throat. Confessions would have to wait for another time. "Hated to crush his dreams, but what can I say? I'm built to last."

* * *


End file.
